Bryan Swaenepoel enters Hall on his own

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This article was published 14/06/2024 (877 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Bryan Swaenepoel has entered the Manitoba Baseball Hall of Fame twice before, but tonight it’s very, very different.

The Souris product, who grew up watching his father Albert play fastball, was earlier inducted as a member of the 2007 Brandon Cloverleafs team in 2019 and the 1997-2000 Carman Goldeyes junior teams in 2022.

Tonight he will be inducted as an individual player at Morden’s Access Events Centre during the organization’s 26th induction banquet.

“It’s a little surreal,” Swaenepoel said. “It’s a humbling experience. Ross Tycoles had nominated me so you kind of have an inkling of what’s going on but to actually get the call that you’re going to be recognized for that is a pretty good feeling.”

Swaenepoel played baseball and hockey as he grew up, but the former gradually became more important. It proved to be a good decision.

“I had some success when I was younger and got to do some different things as far as getting picked up for provincials and eventually making youth teams and all that provincial-type stuff,” Swaenepoel said. “And I wasn’t that good at hockey anyway so it was always where the focus was.”

Bryan played his minor ball in Souris, and joined the Oildome regional teams from 1991 to 1997. He also participated in western Canadian championships as a pickup by Carillon and Carman.

“I don’t remember our (Oildome) teams back then but I don’t think we were very good,” Swaenepoel said with a chuckle. “Back then the rules were a little bit different. Pickups didn’t have to be from your own area so Winnipeg teams could pick up rural kids. They still had the same kinds of qualifiers so I got picked up by some Winnipeg teams, and as I got older, we started playing in the provincial stuff.”

It didn’t take long for him to take the next step.

In 1996 and 1997, he earned spots on provincial teams as a catcher and pitcher but also a corner infielder.

“From Manitoba and being one of the stronger players from the province and at westerns, going to a place where everybody throws 90 is quite a bit different. You play national championships up here where maybe one or two guys were throwing that hard at that point, and at the first practice down there, everybody threw that hard.”– Bryan Swaenepoel

“You get your eyes opened very quickly,” Swaenepoel said. “It’s not the small town anymore, there are all these other places. It’s just a different experience.”

In Grade 11, he had some buddies who headed down to American schools to continue their baseball careers, and that planted a seed. After graduating in 1997, he picked a two-year junior college, Des Moines Area Community College, in Boone, Iowa.

After that, he finished his college career at Valley City State College, where he was named all-conference catcher while also spending some time on the mound.

“That was pretty eye-opening, too,” Swaenepoel recalled. “From Manitoba and being one of the stronger players from the province and at westerns, going to a place where everybody throws 90 is quite a bit different. You play national championships up here where maybe one or two guys were throwing that hard at that point, and at the first practice down there, everybody threw that hard.

“The amount of work that goes into it … If you want to play, just being good enough isn’t really good enough anymore.”

He graduated with a business degree, and returned to Souris.

He spent four seasons in the Manitoba Senior Baseball League with Souris Cardinals from 1997-2000 — he was still in high school when he started — and after the Cardinals folded, joined the Brandon Cloverleafs from 2001 to 2013.

The 15-time all-star, who had a career on-base percentage of .427, said the MSBL was an outstanding league.

“It was the amount of good players,” Swaenepoel said. “There weren’t just a few good ones mixed with seven or eight others. Each team had seven, eight, nine good starters. It was quite a bit different, and there were imports.”

While he had to make the drive to Brandon after Souris left the league, it wasn’t a difficult task. Swaenepoel became close with his teammates and the Cloverleafs won six championships during his time there.

“I knew a few of the guys prior to [joining the Cloverleafs] just from other experiences,” Swaenepoel said. “With the team we had and the friendships made, it wasn’t a very hard decision to keep coming back even when Souris got a team.”

As his daughter Ava and sons Carson and Jack got older and began to play their own sports, however, he decided it was time to hang up his cleats.

“I was running out of time, and you’re not as good as you once were,” said Swaenepoel, who is married to wife Candice. “Father Time catches up and you can’t quite do the things you used to do. It kind of sucks. You miss the team and the camaraderie. That sort of stuff is the best in team sports.

“But I had young kids and they were demanding of some time. I had to make decisions.”

He keeps active in the game, however, coaching his youngsters since they were small. This year, he is coaching the U13 AAA Oildome club, which coincidentally plays against a Brandon Marlins club coached by fellow Hall of Fame inductee Ryan Boguski.

They’ll certainly be in the spotlight together on Saturday.

Swaenepoel attended both team induction ceremonies in the last six years and thought they were terrific experiences.

“It’s a pretty special night,” Swaenepoel said. “You see people who, for me when our Carman team went in, I saw people I hadn’t seen for 25 years. It was pretty wild. Coaches, players, managers, etc., and then with the other teams and other players, you run across people throughout the time you haven’t seen for a long time.”

He will have about seven family members coming, including his father and mother Dianne, although other buddies may also show up.

And while it will be meaningful to share it with his folks, it will also show his kids that their father was a pretty good athlete back in the day.

“My parents, growing up, obviously had a big say in things and were driving us all over the place and supporting us and giving us the opportunities to actually do those types of things, which is pretty awesome,” Swaenepoel said. “For Mom and Dad, it’s pretty awesome, and for the kids too. I don’t know if they’ve seen me play. Jack, maybe when he was young but other than that it’s probably pretty foreign to them.”

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